Gentlemanly attitudes and gracious smiles turned to heated discussions and accusations between some of the Mayoral candidates at Tuesday evening's standing-room-only OSNA Mayoral Forum at Christ Church. With the clear edge on the lay-of-the-land in both the Historic District of town and the overall neighborhood, incumbent James Miron set his feet and took some harsh blows from the other Mayoral candidates. Republican candidate State Representative John Harkins (R-120) lashed out at Miron for his mailings regarding Harkins’ stance on the Shakespeare/Hanney contract, saying he never said he would sign that contract. And that that campaigning is misleading and a lie.We saw retail politics at its best last night though. Jim Miron extolled the virtues of his first four years as our first mayor; John Harkins told the crowd of the negative reasons he joined this race, how he had been asked to run before. However, after speaking to a friend, he had to commit to the race. He stated “People hate their Town, and want to move out.” Dom Costello talked about how politics in the town doesn’t work with the two-party system and how it’s time for an independent voice. And George Mulligan explained our overspending on the town pensions.
Harkins was unclear with his vision on the Shakespeare Theater; while Miron and Costello are clear to get rid of Hanney and begin anew with the contract work.
Attacks were aimed against Miron all evening, but none of the other candidates seemed to give any elements of why they would a better leader for our Town. No one except Miron told how they would change things to make it better. There was a clear attacking of the incumbent instead of the others showing their strength; the voters know what doesn’t work. The question remained: what will these other candidates do for the taxpayers?Overall Miron has become the first mayor, and has molded himself with the freshly made genre of the new town charter bringing Stratford into the future. Even as far as quoting Ronald Reagan: “Are we better now than we were four years ago?” Harkins tried to convince people they are not happy, and the town needs help and he’s the State Lawmaker who can do it. Costello wants to listen to, and work for the people. And, George Mulligan, "town gadfly," wanted to simply educate the Town on hidden agendas.
Miron told the group how he grew up in the Historic area and in Stratford. He told the gathering of his love for his hometown and his desire to lead for another four years. John Harkins, on the other hand, praised the Save Stratford group for their work and told the group how he loved the Paradise Green area of Town. (Did he forget who was hosting last night’s forum?!)
Thank you from OSNA and Save Shakespeare to all the candidates who participated in this event. Special thanks to all the OSNA officers and members who helped at the Forum; especially Shelly Gerarden for moderating and Ann Jackson for timekeeping.
3 comments:
Harkins appears to have no game plan for the town. He didn't do much of anything for this town in Htfd. all these years. He has no real track record in of helping Stratford and its residents with anything of substance. Because of the "great" job he's done we have no Railroad parking garage, lost funding for our school system, and let the Shakespear theater sit here for years just falling apart when it was in the states hands. Mudslinging is his only option with no record to stand on. Also, how dare he say "People hate their town" What people? Maybe if people focused more attn. to what has been really been going on they would see the real and positive changes that have been taking place. I think his running has nothing to do with Stratford's well being, but perhaps everything to do with using this town as a political stepping stone for future he plans he has politically, and other things he will run for.
LOL! Did you read that from the back of a Miron mailing?
Miron raise property taxes 25.74% in three years, fired 50+ qualified talented employees, tried to cut the BOE budget every year, failed to keep current equipment up to date at the FD, squandered $667,000 on the Town Attorney and lets not forget the hiring of Justin Loschiavo and the persecution of cops who refused to kneel.
Forget Miron he did the best he could but needless to say his time in the mayors seat is history. Stratford needs to stop low income housing, improve our city's service to home owners and make quality education/schools a priority as it impacts our children and the value of each of our homes. Our town borders on being a dumping ground for the un-wanted and non productive if we are not diligent about preserving and maintaining what we have. We have a beautiful historic charming town that is negatively impacted by incompetent economic and housing development. In addition to lack of city ordinances that allow home owners to cut up a single family home and divide it into 6 rentals thereby destroying the character of our town. This ignorance leads to over crowding of our streets with cars, noise, and individuals who do not own homes but rent rooms... If I wanted to live in a community of middle aged apartment dwellers who rent rooms I would not have chosen Stratford to raise my family in! Somehow town officials don't see this... If you can not afford to keep your home sell it! Do not subject our town to desperate individuals seeking room rentals. I am empathetic and am all for helping people but not at my neighbors expense. These individuals should go to a shelter or an apartment complex that was designed for such not our bedroom community. In addition, these homeowners owners many of which are earning tax free income on these rentals why I pay a lot of money in taxes to live in this community. Wake Up Stratford!!! Economic development should focus on quality shops with health conscious attitudes such as whole foods or boutique grocers such as trader joes who have stellar reputations in the community. Enough of the bargain basement shoping town of wall mart,marshals Dollar stores etc.... When is someone in this town going take pride in developing it. The Shakespeare theater is a joke.. Tear it down and put up a recreational facility for our children put a man made lake there with benches and trees for the community to enjoy.. Greta Garbo is not coming back and theater goers go to Broadway... We can't even sell out tickets at our other theater in town stop wasting time and money on this like you have for the last 20 years.... Its time Stratford stops striving to find itself and begins focusing on defining itself as Fairfield county's up and coming best kept secret. Mayor Harkins I hope has the same attitude but he is only a small part of the picture. Town members must demand a change and stop looking the other way.
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